David Fincher's Western
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
A Cover Story on David Fincher’s new film.
In The Industry News: Paramount’s payday, an old Bond and Amazon loves horses.
Festivals: Werner Herzog AI and a black-listed mermaid.
Actor Spotlight: Miles Teller’s gorge, Sydney Sweeny’s box, and Alfred Hitchcock’s muse.
Indie Filmmaker Spotlight: Andrea Arnold’s Bird and Oz Perkins’ Monkey.
International News: Godzilla buys Heron and BFI’s lifeline.
Let’s go!
David Fincher’s next film will likely be the Western crime thriller Bitterroot.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Francis Lee, Sr., a 78-year-old WWII veteran and Montana rancher, is burdened by heart disease, diabetes, and medical bills.
Estranged from his son and granddaughter, and grieving his wife’s death, his only comfort comes from outings with his caretaker, Maya. A brief moment of hope arises when he wins a million-dollar sweepstakes, but it quickly turns to despair after becoming a victim of financial fraud, pushing him to his limits.
Although the genre and synopsis sound alien to Fincher’s usual fare, it shares more than enough DNA.
In his recent films, Fincher has dealt with characters who are also strikingly isolated, as in Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of the friendless killer in The Killer (2023) and others that have also faced a slew of health problems, as in Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Mank in Mank (2020), a man bedridden by his vices.
This will also be the oldest protagonist in Fincher’s oeuvre (not including Benjamin Button, whose titular character ends the film at age 85). The director himself may be feeling his years, as he implied after signing a 4-year deal with Netflix in 2020:
"I admit that it feels strange, after 40 years in this profession, to only have ten films under my belt. Well, 11, but 10 that I can say are mine. Yes, objectively, it is a pretty terrifying observation."
Fincher will be making films for a long time to come. This is not in question.
My hope is that he is able to ground the next film in the core relationship of the WW2 Vet and the Caretaker. Without these relationship dynamics in the film, his cinema can feel cold. As was his kinetic and technically perfect The Killer. No characters in that film cared for Fassbender, other than the girlfriend character who felt added on.
Fincher’s movies thrive when there is a tightly bonded pair, be it Pitt and Norton in Fight Club, Pitt and Freeman in Se7en, or Craig and Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
We’ll keep tracking this one to see if that’s the case.
Bitterroot will begin filming early next year.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Even if Paramount's three CEOs do not stay at the company post-Skydance merger, they’ll have plenty of severance. The Compensation Committee approved changes for all three co-CEOs, including:
An increased annual bonus equal to 100% of base salary, applying throughout employment.
$3 million in restricted stock units (RSUs), vesting over three years.
If the co-CEO’s role changes significantly, they can resign with severance.
According to the SEC filing, the “role change” in the last term is essentially a demotion:
“Of duties or responsibilities substantially inconsistent with [their] position or duties as co-CEO, or a material reduction in such position or duties.”
No word on what will happen to the three co-CEOs (George Cheeks, CBS; Chris McCarthy, Showtime/MTV and Paramount Media Networks; Brian Robbin, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon), but they’re currently on a slash-and-burn program to save Paramount $500 M/year.
This has resulted in a target of laying off 15% of the US workforce, equivalent to roughly 2000 jobs. We can only hope that those employees will be getting similarly comfy severance packages.
The Skydance merger is pending regulatory approval and is forcasted to close next year.
Radar Pictures (Production Company: Jumanji series, Riddick series) is making a James Bond film—sort of. They are adapting the book:
Yes, that’s the title. Which is only slightly shorter than the synopsis:
James Bond has nothing on British double agent Dusko Popov. As an operative for the Abwehr, SD, MI5, MI6, and FBI during World War II, Popov seduced countless women―including agents on both sides―spoke five languages, and was a crack shot, all while maintaining his cover as a Yugoslav diplomat...
The book’s author, Larry Loftis, is writing the script. Harald Zwart (Agent Cody Banks, 2010’s The Karate Kid) will direct.
Zwart stated:
“It feels as if you’re witnessing a thrilling James Bond film—yet it all actually happened. For filmmakers, it’s a dream scenario: to portray a sensational historical story without the risk of being accused of distorting facts for cinematic flair or speculative dramatization.”
Hopefully this doesn’t shape up to be a more serious version of Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024) which made $27 M on a $60 M budget.
Hollywood is indebted to the James Bond franchise as many imitations of the original author, Ian Fleming's character, have become highly successful franchises, such as Mission Impossible and The Kingsman.
No production date has been set. Hopefully, this will be less campy than Zwart’s usual fare.
If you are enjoying the newsletter and see its value, please consider supporting the newsletter by becoming a premium subscriber https://theindustry.co/subscribe
Coming to Netflix today is a short film, Sing: Thriller set in the Sing universe stars Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson. The series has been wildly popular:
Sing (2016)
$634 M worldwide gross
Sing 2 (2021)
$408 M worldwide gross
This short film by Garth Jennings, who directed the previous two installments, is inspired by Michael Jackson’s iconic Thriller music video. Illumination is the studio.
I guess it’s dropping when it’s close to midnight.
Tidbit:
Jennifer Westfeldt (co-writer: The Idea of You, actress: Kissing Jessica Stein) is set to adapt and star in Amazon MGM Studios’ future feature based on Amy Poeppel’s book The Sweet Spot. The novel is a multi-generational, female-driven screwball comedy set in New York City around the chaos of the holiday season. The actress will also be producing alongside Rebelle Media. Earlier this year, Westfeldt wrote the screenplay for the Anne Hathaway led romcom The Idea of You also for Amazon which drew 50 M viewers in its first two weeks.
Amazon MGM Studios is back with more book adaptations! Longtime author and horse lover Natalie Keller Reinert’s equestrian-centered romance book series is being adapted for the small screen. Her The Eventing Series is made up of eight books following young horse rider, Julia as she simultaneously grows into a young woman and the best competitor she can be. Reinert’s Briar Hill Farm trilogy Series was published shortly after following equestrians (some from her previous books) living on a quaint farm in rural Florida whose lives revolve around the horses they train.
There is no official news regarding whether both series will be combined into one show or when production will begin.
Legendary Entertainment acquired the rights to adapt the Tier One military thriller series by co-authors Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson. The series follows Navy SEAL John Dempsey's transformation into a black ops spy. The series currently consists of 8 books, with a 9th expected this year. Legendary Television is developing the project for both a major motion picture and TV series.
Rappers Delight:
Megan Thee Stallion's auto-documentary In Her Words premieres October 31 on Prime Video, exploring her journey, mental health advocacy, and rise to stardom. Directed by Nneka Onuorah (Lizzo's Watch Out for the Big Grrrls).
Chief Keef's rise in drill music will be explored in a documentary directed by Cole Bennett (The Culture) produced by Kenya Barris, and Lyrical Lemonade.
James Gunn has finished an "assembly cut" of Superman and shared a second image featuring Superman with his trusty (also superpowered) dog Krypto. Warner Bros. is placing high stakes on Gunn's DCEU, creating immense pressure for success. Superman arrives on July 11, 2025.
Renewals:
Apple TV+’s Slow Horses (Season 6)
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Miles Teller mixes Sci-Fi action with a bit of romance in The Gorge.
Playing opposite Anya Taylor-Joy these first-look images show a burgeoning chemistry under very spooky circumstances. We don't know much about The Gorge, just that it's director Scott Derickson (Black Phone, Dr. Strange) promises a genre-bending love story, with lots of action.
First Look Images here:
A tender touch
Running From Something
Like any good monster movie, The Gorge is playing its scaley hand close to its chest and not showing much. But there is something about this that just looks like a lot of fun. Teller and Taylor Joy are both powerhouses in their own right. I'm about ready to take a trip to The Gorge. It will arrive sometime in 2025 on Apple TV+.
After Everything director Joey Power has assembled a star studded cast of young talent for his upcoming romcom Love Language.
The film will be headlined by Chloë Grace Moretz known for films like Carrie (2013) and Kick Ass (2010); she most recently was the lead voice in Netflix’s Nimona (2023).
Grammy winner Anthony Ramos is also attached, having just appeared in this summer’s blockbuster remake Twisters, he can be seen next in Marvel’s Ironheart series for Disney+ next year.
Also joining the cast is actress Billie Lourd, a Star Wars and American Horror Story alum, who this year stars in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl which premiered to high acclaim at TIFF.
Also joining the cast:
Isabel May (1883)
Lukas Gage (White Lotus)
Manny Jacinto (Star Wars: The Acolyte)
While details of Love Language are being kept hidden, Caviar, 3 Arts Entertainment, and No Notes Productions are behind the project.
Filming is expected to begin sometime this month, primarily in Chicago.
Tidbits:
Sydney Sweeney gets bloody… again. She will play Christy Martin, e.g., the female Rocky, in Itching To Start Training, directed by David Michôd (Animal Kingdom).
Sweeney, who did kickboxing when she was younger stated:
“I’ve been itching to get back into the ring, train, and transform my body. Christy’s story isn’t a light one, it’s physically and emotionally demanding, there’s a lot of weight to carry.”
Sweeney has done nothing but excel in physically demanding roles, from her breakout role in Euphoria (2019-2022) to the recent Immaculate (2024).
Here’s Sweeney in the role:
Here’s a comparison image with the character she’s playing, Christy Martin:
The project is currently in production.
Tom Hollander Plays Alfred Hitchcock in Netflix’s Monster Season 3. Monster Season 3 revolves around Ed “Butcher of Plainfield” Gein (Charlie Hunnam), who was known to exhume corpses and fashion household decorations out of human skin and bone. The character was said to be an inspiration for Psycho’s Norman Bates. How Hitchcock will be incorporated into the plot has not been revealed but Hollander was masterful at his rendition of Truman Capote in FX’s Feud.
Other cast members include Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird) as Gein’s mother and Olivia Williams as Hitchockck’s wife, Alma.
No word on production dates.
Benedict Wong, who was masterful as the police chief in 3 Bodies Problem, and Jimmy O. Yang, who was deliriously cynical and hilariously cruel in HBO’s Silicon Valley (best of clips) are starring in Rock Springs.
Here’s the official synopsis:
A grieving young girl who, along with her mother and grandmother, moves to Rock Springs, WY after the death of her father, only to discover there is something monstrous hidden in the town’s history and the woods behind their new house.
No word on who they will play. Macro (Fences, Sorry to Bother You) is producing and financing with Vera Miao (writer: Expats) as director.
No word on the production start date.
FESTIVALS
The world’s biggest doc festival, IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam), just announced their opening film, About A Hero.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Werner Herzog’s assertion that “a computer won’t be able to create a film as good as mine for at least another 4,500 years.” is challenged in a tantalizing experiment with an AI-system trained on Herzog’s oeuvre and asked it to generate a screenplay.
The resulting film is said to be:
“A disturbing search for the soul—of human beings and of creative work.”
This is fascinating and frightening.
There are 12 other films in the International Competition, including this one that caught my eye:
Synopsis: A contemplative journey through the twentieth century, composed entirely of archival film footage. In this wordless film, full of beauty and bitterness, the excitement of adventure becomes a curse, and tears of joy mingle with the pain of despair.
Absorbing Trailer.
The 37th edition of IDFA takes place from November 14-24, 2024. Here’s the full lineup.
The Black List Writer’s Lab kicks off the 2024 edition with six writers. Here are the writers/projects that caught our attention:
Chlorine
Writer: Jade Song (author: Chlorine NY Times Editor’s Choice)
Synopsis: A competitive swimmer becomes determined to transcend into a mermaid, no matter the blood she must spill.
Feels like it shares a splash of DNA with the insane The Lure (2015).
Fake-A-Wish
Writer: Colton Childs
Synopsis: Despite their 40-year age gap, and the cancer treatment confining them to their small Texas town, two gay men embark on a road trip to San Francisco to grant themselves the Make-A-Wish they’re too old to receive.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Andrea Arnold's cinema is raw and biting. Her latest project, Bird, an official selection at Cannes, TIFF, BFI, Telluride which was acquired by Mubi for UK and Ireland, has just released a trailer.
Synopsis:
The film follows a 12-year-old who lives with her brother and single dad in a squat in North Kent. As she approaches puberty, she seeks attention and adventure elsewhere.
Barry Keoghan (Saltburn) stars as the single dad, working class trying to keep it all together… by selling a hallucinogenic toad. The trailer is raw, emotionally vast and a little surreal. It seems to harken back to some of Arnold’s earlier films.
Arnold's Wasp, her 2003 short film that won the Academy Award, is a roller coaster ride of intensity. Her feature debut Fish Tank (2009) is a kinetic, aggressive, coming-of-age story (trailer) co-starring Michael Fassbender. It took the Jury Prize at Cannes. While her first films stifled her characters in constricting environments, her previous film, American Honey (2016), set them free. It is perhaps the best road movie of the 2010s. It also took the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes (trailer).
In Oz Perkins, Neon trusts. The directing/distributor duo behind Longlegs have just dropped a trailer for their new project, The Monkey.
Here’s the official synopsis, based on the book by Stephen King:
When twin brothers Bill and Hal find their father's old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths start. The siblings decide to throw the toy away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years.
The trailer looks sick. Like a lot of blood, a lot of deaths. It’s a little less of a blood-curdling horror (à la Hereditary) than the fantasy horror indicative of King’s work.
The team behind the film is appropriately killer:
Star: Theo James (The White Lotus)
Producer: James Wan (dir: Saw, Furious 7)
EP: Fred Berger (La La Land)
EP: Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (Midnight Special)
In theaters Feb 21st… we’ll see you then.
Tidbits:
The Aliens are coming. UAP is an upcoming sci-fi film co-starring Charlie Evans. Evans is most recognizable as Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts's son, who loses something big at the end of Netflix’s Leave The World Behind.
Here’s the UAP synopsis:
A group of childhood friends celebrating their reunion during the 4th of July weekend at an idyllic vacation house when an Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAP, crash-lands nearby.
First-time filmmaker Mason Howard is directing. The project kicks off filming in Spain on November 11th.
Emerging filmmaker Katarina Zhu’s directorial debut, Bunnylovr, a film she also wrote and starred in just wrapped production in New York this month. The funny and seemingly everywhere Rachel Sennott (Saturday Night) is producing and also starring alongside Zhu and Hit Man’s Austin Amelio. The indie drama is expected at Poland’s upcoming American Film Festival this November.
An authoritative doc on Bogie. Universal Pictures' upcoming Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes (dir: Kathryn Ferguson, Nothing Compares) is the first authorized documentary on Humphyry Bogart from the estate.
Ferguson described the film as:
“Looking at the key women in his life, the women who had been instrumental in his success and who all, bar his fourth wife, Lauren Bacall, had been left as footnotes in history.”
The film features rare, never-before-seen footage of Bogart from the estate and will be narrated by none other than Bogart himself.
Here’s the trailer. In theaters November 15th.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Godzilla Studio Toho has acquired Gkids (Studio Ghbli’s North American distributor, who won the Oscar for The Boy and the Heron).
Gkids will remain a wholly owned subsidiary under Toho International, with Eric Beckman as CEO and Dave Jesteadt as President.
Toho CEO Hiro Matsuoka stated:
“Gkids has built a unique position in the U.S. market, which dovetails perfectly with Toho’s own strengths and… goals to prioritize animation, develop international markets, and support IP creation…”
The two companies have previously collaborated on projects such as Weathering With You (2019) and Promare (2019), and share a commitment to expanding the reach of Japanese and animated content globally.
Tidbit:
Max is launching in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. They’re launching in these markets on November 19th.
BFI launches WorkWise for Screen, a £1.5 M fund that aims to:
“Address long-standing practices negatively impacting the health and wellbeing of the industry’s workforce.”
Read more about the program here.
This is critical after February when the UK Broadcasting Union Bectu (Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union) urged action after finding 68% of freelancers were out of work.
Another study of theirs found:
≈75% felt safety compromised
96.3% worked 10+ hr/day
46.4% worked 12+ hr/day
72% feared that they were too fatigued from work to drive home safely
We hope the new funding will support more stringent safety protocols that ensure human safety is never discounted.
ON THIS DAY
1958. Tim Robbins was born in West Covina, California.
See you Thursday!
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | X
Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co